Wednesday, July 18, 2012

AN OPEN BOOK OF MORMON...

Some prominent Republicans are now adding their voices to
the chorus demanding former Massachusetts' governor MItt Romney release his tax
returns from 1999 to today. For
all his public career, Romney has been able to stonewall or just refuse to let
constitutions see where his wealth came from, where he stashes it and whether
or not he has been playing fast and loose with tax laws to reduce his tax
burden to a level most middle class Americans will never see.

Romney ran for the Senate in Massachusetts; ran and was elected
Governor; ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2008; is the
presumed nominee for 2012. During
all this time, Romney refused to show how rich he is and how that wealth is
structured. During the recent
primaries, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry forced him to release one year, 2010,
and a guess about 2011. He says he
will not release anything else.
Ironically, it was his father, George Romney, who set the precedent of
candidates releasing tax returns when he released 12 years of his. The senior Romney is quoted as saying
one or two years are not enough because they could represent a fluke or
deception. Now, his son is under
increasing pressure to release more of his returns, because the only year he
did release has raised more questions than answers.

Newt Gingrich says Romney is the first person to run for president with
a Swiss bank account. Romney's
2010 return showed he has millions squirreled away in offshore accounts from
Bermuda to the Grand Caymans. The
2010 return showed Romney taxed at a 13.9% rate. The reason, allegedly, is because so much of Romney’s income
comes from Bain Capital in the form of "carried interest" from
investments. Investments are taxed
at 15% instead of a rate over 30%, which is the rate for regular income. Romney's claim for so much carried
interest can't be verified with only one year's return.

Other questions have been raised about his wealth. At a time when everyone in America was
limited to $2000-$4,000 a year which could be deposited in a traditional I.R.A.
account, Romney shows he has over $100 million in his. How is that possible?

In an article in Vanity Fair, Romney's use of offshore accounts raises
questions about the source of the funding and whether any of these accounts
could e used to allow illegal foreign money to be sheltered in this
country. Romney allegedly retired
from Bain in 1999. Yet, his 2010
return says Mitt, and his wife's, I.R.A. is still receiving money from a Bain
fund set up in the Caymans. This is
only allowable if he was still performing services for Bain, something he
claims he is not doing. Once
again, these questions about legality and the appropriate tax rate cannot be
answer by one tax return.

Romney himself is quoted saying, "...I've paid every tax dollar I'm
legally required to pay and not one dollar more." We don't know if this is true. Even if it is true, we don't know
whether Romney, because of his wealth, is able to avoid paying taxes by using
loopholes and grey areas which most American taxpayers would have no access to
or ability to take advantage of.
If true, this would add to the narrative that he is out of touch with
the needs and wants of every day Americans. It would also raise serious questions of whether his is
getting a tax rate he does not deserve.

Another question which more tax returns might answer is a criminal
one. Romney voted in the senate
race in Massachusetts won by Scott Brown.
In order to vote, Romney had to have a residence in the state. His tax returns would show where he was
taking any property tax deductions and thus where he considered his home. There is speculation; they would show
he voted in Massachusetts while claiming his home in New Hampshire or a number
of other states. If so, he would be
guilty of a crime for illegally voting.
We can't determine the answer to this question without more information
from his returns.

The Romney campaign complains questions about his wealth, and tax
returns, are intended to be a distraction by the Obama campaign so the American
people won't notice the sorry state of the nation's economy. Nothing could be further from the
truth. Romney's tax returns, and
what they reveal, are a vital component in the debate about the economy, its
strengths and weaknesses and whose vision of the future, Romney's or Obama's,
will best represent what average, middle class American's needs are and hopes
can be. A Romney who made his
wealth exploiting arcane tax laws, grey areas, ethically questionable
strategies...a Romney who believes in less financial regulation and more
loopholes for the 1% with his kind of wealth...a Romney who refuses to let the
American people judge his actions and decisions...a Romney who creates trusts
and shell companies and offshore accounts to benefit his children and
grandchildren, is not someone who is going to spend much effort preventing Wall
Street banks and corporate America from flimming and flamming working Americans
even more than they do now.

Romney says he paid every tax dollar legally required and not one dollar
more. We don't know if that is
true. More importantly, if he was
able to use Swiss accounts, Bermuda post office boxes and Grand Cayman
structures to shelter and protect his wealth, and reduce his tax bite, every
dollar he didn't pay...to support wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and tax breaks
for the 1%...is a dollar you have had to make up for. It's time for him to open the book to a new chapter and come
clean so people can know exactly whom it is they might vote for.